2024-10-13 | None of us know what forms Putin’s nightmares take, but I’d hazard a guess that open conflict between his mafia lieutenants would feature in them. Adding the ethnic colour of a ‘blood feud’ is just an additional theatrical flourish. This is what happened this week, as Kadyrov threatened a ‘blood feud’, as he claimed a group of Russian lawmakers were planning his assassination. ---------- SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER - A project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awar...
Oct 13, 2024•16 min
SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER - A project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's frontline towns. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras ---------- Igor Tracz 10-time world champion in dog sled racing. volunteer at war. 72 convoys with humanitarian aid to Ukraine completed. Climber, cyclist, diver, shooter, sport trainer, president of a humanitarian foundation. Will Blackburn Author of "T...
Oct 12, 2024•42 min•Season 3Ep. 525
2024-10-11 | This news is a week old, but more details are coming out, so it’s worth taking a deeper dive into the Israel strike near the Russian air base in Syria. The full impact of this has also not been appreciated, I feel, I certain sections of the media, so let’s jump into this story. ---------- Is Israel at war with Russia? Well, frustratingly this is a no, yes answer to the question. Is it formally at war? No. Does the attack on Russian munitions being delivered to Iran constitute a decl...
Oct 11, 2024•33 min
Andrey Kurkov is a Ukrainian author and public intellectual. He is the author of 20 novels, including the bestselling Death and the Penguin, nine books for children, and about 20 documentary, fiction and TV movie scripts. His work is currently translated into 37 languages, including English, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, and many others. His first novel was published two weeks before the fall of the Soviet Union, and in the ensuing social and political turmoil he made the first steps toward...
Oct 09, 2024•34 min•Season 3Ep. 524
Edition No55 | 06-10-2024 - Ukrainian officials in Chernihiv have told residents not to swim in the Desna River after a toxic spill last month. This video is based on the excellent reporting of Luke Harding and Artem Mazhulin in Slabyn, Ukraine, from the UK’s Guardian newspaper. ~~~~~ ‘Everything is dead’ – reports come in of a major ecocide event, after rivers are poisoned. Ukrainian officials in Chernihiv have told residents not to swim in the Desna River after a toxic spill last month. This v...
Oct 08, 2024•17 min
Katia Denysova is an Art historian and curator. She is the co-curator of ‘In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine', 2022-24 which is currently running at the Royal Academy, London. (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; RMFA, Brussels; Belvedere, Vienna; Royal Academy, London) ---------- LINKS: https://courtauld.ac.uk/people/kateryna-denysova/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/katia-denysova-38144545 https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/eye-of-the-storm -------...
Oct 07, 2024•44 min•Season 3Ep. 473
Edition No55 | 06-10-2024 - Ukrainian officials in Chernihiv have told residents not to swim in the Desna River after a toxic spill last month. This video is based on the excellent reporting of Luke Harding and Artem Mazhulin in Slabyn, Ukraine, from the UK’s Guardian newspaper. ~~~~~ ‘Everything is dead’ – reports come in of a major ecocide event, after rivers are poisoned. Ukrainian officials in Chernihiv have told residents not to swim in the Desna River after a toxic spill last month. This v...
Oct 06, 2024•15 min
Lesia Dubenko is a Ukrainian journalist and analyst featured in the Financial Times, Politico Europe, New Eastern Europe, Washington Times, and more. She’s currently affiliated with Ukraine’s media outlet Euromaidan Press. You can follow her on Substack for a dose of good and satirical commentary https://lesiadubenko.substack.com ---------- SUMMARY: The West is conducting 'Preemptive self deterrence' with regards to Russia, in a way that exudes weakness and morally amounts to appeasement of evil...
Oct 05, 2024•22 min•Season 3Ep. 523
GUEST: John Sweeney - investigative journalist and writer. Orange hat advocate. ---------- SPEAKER: John Sweeney is a British investigative journalist and writer. He worked for The Observer newspaper, and the BBC's Panorama and Newsnight series. Sweeney ceased working for the BBC in October 2019, and is now reporting on the war in Ukraine, as well as creating a Daily war diary. Which I strongly advise you to watch if you’ve not seen it. He’s also been working on a film, documenting the most brut...
Oct 04, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 522
GUEST: Mark Galeotti - historian, author, security expert and academic. ---------- SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISER A project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's frontline towns. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain/collections ---------- LINKS: https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/in-moscows-shadows/id15101...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 521
The Russian war economy is not doing well. But it seems like there is an attritional race on – will the Russian war machine collapse before the will and resolve of Ukraine’s allies, to support it for victory. Is it time to let go of the idea that Russia has endless resources to continue the war indefinitely, and that historically is not uncommon for Russia to lose wars – and catastrophically, without the country, and indeed the world, ceasing to exist. The next six months will likely prove cruci...
Oct 02, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 520
Oz Katerji is an independent Correspondent in Ukraine. British-Lebanese conflict journalist & filmmaker based in Kyiv. Director of a forthcoming film: The Battle For Kyiv. ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/OzKaterji/highlights https://www.instagram.com/ozkaterji/?hl=en https://www.newstatesman.com/author/oz-katerji https://thecritic.co.uk/author/oz-katerji/ https://foreignpolicy.com/author/oz-katerji/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patre...
Oct 01, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 518
Chuck Pfarrer is an American writer, film producer and former navy SEAL. He’ll be a familiar and trusted presence to many who have tuned in to the Mriya Report on ‘X’ over the course of the war. As an author, Chuck has penned screenplays, novels and comic books, as well as non-fiction works. His works feature themes relating to the military, and of course is a strong advocate for Ukrainian victory. ---------- LINKS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Pfarrer https://x.com/chuckpfarrer?lang=en h...
Oct 01, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 519
Today I am speaking with "Two Grumpy Old Men”, Michael Andersen and Brian Bonner who seasoned Ukraine watchers and have teamed up to create a video and Substack blog "Two Grumpy Old Men On Ukraine." They focus on Ukraine, and issues in related parts of the world since both have lived and worked in many countries. They write, run Q&As, create videos, report on the unfolding war, and resurface content from their collective archive, to help frame current events in a historical context. --------...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 517
Russia’s Shadow Tankers Threaten an Environmental Catastrophe in the Baltic. And now a Maltese-flagged cargo ship filled with 20,000 tonnes of Russian sourced ammonium nitrate in drifting towards the UK coast. This is the same potentially explosive fertiliser that caused a massive explosion in Beirut in 2020, and this ship is carrying 7 times more of this dangerous cargo. Understandably it has been rejected permission to dock by several countries. So, what kind of threats does the Kremlin’s shad...
Sep 29, 2024•44 min•Season 3Ep. 516
Darth Putin (KGB). An account on Twitter / X that may or may not be authored by the Bunker Tsar himself. Darth Putin - Czar for life of all Russians. Master Strategist. Thought leader. Wellness coach. Tea connoisseur. Author. Wanted in 123 countries. Parody, apparently. ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/darthputinkgb https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darth-Putin-Guide-Master-Strategist-ebook/dp/B0CVYFPZ5N https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/in-the-bunker-with-darth-putin/id1732865476 ---------- BOOKS: Th...
Sep 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 501
GUESTS: Anna Danylchuk, Operator Starsky and Cormac Smith ---------- Anna Danylchuk has been creating a war diary since the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Anna Danylchuk aims to tell the truth about Ukraine and Russia’s war and cut through the noise and propaganda. Anna is passionate about the beauty and independence of her country, and communicates this powerfully in her videos, in a clear and honest way. Operator Starsky is a former Ukrainian National Guard...
Sep 26, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 515
For years, one group of Americans has worked as foot-soldiers for the most authoritarian regimes around the planet. In the process, they've not only entrenched dictatorships and spread kleptocratic networks, but they've secretly guided U.S. policy without the rest of America even being aware. And now, journalist Casey Michel contends some of them have begun turning their sights on American democracy itself. These Americans are known as foreign lobbyists, and many of them spent years ushering dic...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 514
This is a conversation with the three esteemed authors of a paper entitled “The autocrat’s intelligence paradox: Vladimir Putin’s (mis)management of Russian strategic assessment in the Ukraine War. Huw Dylan, David V. Gioe and Elena Grossfeld ---------- This article argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 is illustrative of this broader, though understudied, pattern of autocratic mismanagement of strategic intelligence. The invasion was both spurred and accompanied by a catastr...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 508
Christopher 'Swede' Forsbäck is Swedish volunteer and was wounded in the line of duty serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Co...
Sep 23, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 513
Vatnik soup is a Twitter thread series where Pekka Kallioniemi introduces pro-Russian actors and propagandists from around the world. This includes so-called “independent journalists”, politicians, military personnel and of course just regular grifters looking to make money. The series has introductions and deeper insights on how online propaganda and disinformation works and is spread. There are now 200 Vatnik soups, which introduce bad actors along with the strategies they employ to pollute th...
Sep 23, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 512
David Satter is a journalist and historian with unique insights into how the deformation and repression of the past, is having terrible consequences for present day Russia. David has written extensively about Russia and the Soviet Union, especially the decline and fall of the USSR and rise of post-Soviet Russia. David Satter became the first American journalist to be expelled from Russia since the Cold War in December 2013. This was perhaps not a surprising move, given that his books have covere...
Sep 22, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 511
Whatever mistakes he has made in the war Vladimir Putin has retained the Escalation Initiative, always proving he can push the war to a new level of brutality, with the Western allies constantly playing catch-up, and in many ways placing restrictions and delays on Ukraine in terms of how it fights back. What are the implications of this dynamic for the war and a potential Ukrainian victory? ---------- Terron Sims, II is a combat veteran, businessman, political leader, and a proud graduate of the...
Sep 21, 2024•56 min•Season 3Ep. 510
GUEST: Anna from Ukraine - Anna Danylchuk ---------- Anna Danylchuk has been creating a war diary since the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Anna Danylchuk aims to tell the truth about Ukraine and Russia’s war and cut through the noise and propaganda. Anna is passionate about the beauty and independence of her country, and communicates this powerfully in her videos, in a clear and honest way. ---------- LINKS: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/annafromukraine My int...
Sep 20, 2024•40 min
2024-09-19 | Z-patriots are having a meltdown, because, once more things are going boom in Russia. And this time, it’s big. It’s huge in fact. Not only do we find out what it looks like to ignite roughly 30,000 tons of munitions, we get to see so-called Russian patriots lose their minds over how their government fails to protect strategically significant military sites over and over. ---------- The ecosystem of patriotic channels, that nonetheless must exist within the restrictions defined by th...
Sep 20, 2024•9 min
Phil Ittner is a veteran broadcast journalist now working independently in Ukraine. Currently he's based in Kyiv and produces a weekly interview podcast "On the Edge". Disillusioned with how mainstream media was covering the historic war in Ukraine, Phil decided he had to step in and bring a professional and credible perspective to reporting from Ukraine. ---------- LINKS: @PhilipIttner https://x.com/IttnerPhilip https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-ittner-4180271a/ https://philipittner.com/about/ h...
Sep 20, 2024•57 min•Season 3Ep. 507
Welcome to our monthly conversation with Konstantin, who is one of the most respected voices on YouTube about what is happening Inside Russia. Konstantin Samoilov is a well-known YouTuber whose channel ‘Inside Russia’ comments insightfully on Russia’s decent into authoritarianism over the last few years. But now, like many others, he’s outside Russia, with no idea of when he can return there. ---------- LINKS: INSIDE RUSSIA is a source of current news on Russia - Konstantin carefully selects 9 n...
Sep 18, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 506
Katsiaryna Shmatsina - Dissident and collaborator on the 'Darth Putin' satirical project on X. https://x.com/DarthPutinKGB ---------- In 2020, mass anti-government protests erupted across Belarus. The brutal crackdown that followed shocked the international community: the authorities arrested tens of thousands of citizens, shut down independent media and NGOs, and fomented a migrant crisis on the European Union's border. But where many thought Belarus's dictator, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, would fal...
Sep 17, 2024•52 min•Season 3Ep. 505
2024-09-16 | Russia has received new ballistic projectiles from Iran, prompting the US and Europe to impose new sanctions. The supply of weapons by Iran to its ally Russia has major implications and ought to place a greater burden on allies to protect Ukraine, but are they doing anything meaningful, apart from the usual condemnations and reiterations of ‘unenforced’ red lines. ---------- Russia has received new and highly deadly ballistic weapons from Iran and is likely to use them in Ukraine sa...
Sep 17, 2024•17 min
Cormac Smith has worked in Public Relations and Corporate Communications for over three decades. In 2016 he travelled to Ukraine to take up a special appointment as the ‘Strategic Communication Advisor’ to Pavlo Klimkin, then the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. He was attached to the British Embassy in Kyiv but was embedded in Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first foreigner to hold such a position. While in Kyiv, he also advised and provided training for five other government ministries ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 502
